Colonel Phillip Green was a despotic militia leader on Earth who operated from the early 21st century until after World War III. Green, known for his motto, "Overwhelm and devastate," was notorious for striking at his enemies during treaty negotiations. (TOS: "The Savage Curtain"; ENT: "Demons")
Acts[]
During the war, Green led a faction of violent eco-terrorists whose actions led to the death of some thirty-seven million people. (ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II", display graphic)
Barely three years after a cease fire ended the war, he ordered the euthanasia of hundreds of thousands of radiation-damaged Humans, so that future generations would not endure the horrible disease. Green outlined his rationale by speaking to a crowd about how they must "reject the impure and cast it out." (ENT: "Demons")
Legacy[]
Green's post-war killing of many radiation-damaged Humans was met with mixed feelings by survivors, many regarding him as nothing more than a genocidal madman. Others saw him as a pragmatic visionary who "humanely" euthanized radiation-damaged individuals, preventing those afflicted and their descendants from passing on deadly mutations and the suffering that would come with that. (ENT: "Demons") This controversial and contentious posthumous view of Green resulted in heated debates about him and the impact of his policies for many years; among the students of Green's teachings, years afterward, John Frederick Paxton made use of his ideologies to lead a group known as Terra Prime in an unsuccessful bid to expel all non-Humans from the Sol system in 2155. (ENT: "Terra Prime")
A replication of Green was created by the Excalbians in 2269. This duplication formed part of their study of the nature of the Human concepts of "good" and "evil." (TOS: "The Savage Curtain")
In 2364, an illustration of Colonel Green appeared when Data was reviewing all literature on the Dixon Hill series of novels in the USS Enterprise-D database. (TNG: "The Big Goodbye")
The illustration was unlabeled, but reused artwork depicting Green from the FASA RPG module The Federation.
Appendices[]
Background information[]
Green was portrayed by actor Steve Rankin in his only appearance, "Demons". Phillip Pine portrayed the Excalbian recreation of Green in "The Savage Curtain".
This character's surname was formatted "Green" in the script of "The Savage Curtain", and in a graphic that appears in ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II". However, the name was spelled "Greene" in the final draft script of "Demons". In the Star Trek Encyclopedia, 4th ed., vol. 1, p. 318, his surname was "Green".
Green's first name was given as "Phillip" in the aforementioned obscure graphic from "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II". The name was likely chosen in reference to the first name of the character's original actor, Phillip Pine. (Star Trek Encyclopedia, 4th ed., vol. 1, p. 318)
The uniform worn by Steve Rankin in "Demons" was previously worn by a Mokra Order soldier in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Resistance", by a Kradin in the episode "Nemesis", and by Steve Blalock in the Enterprise episode "Canamar". It was sold off on the It's A Wrap! sale and auction on eBay. [1](X)
Originally, Manny Coto intended to use Green as a villain in the Augments trilogy in season four of Star Trek: Enterprise. While working on the story, he said, "I want to do a very harrowing 'Colonel Green' arc. I'm determined to get 'Colonel Green' into this show." [2](X) Coto also thought Green fit well into the plot with the Augments, later admitting, "I always thought that he was an interesting character to bring to life and flesh out. But the implication was that he had something to do with the Eugenics Wars as well." [3](X) Coto invented an extensive backstory for the character's appearance on Star Trek: Enterprise. "It was fun fleshing him out and creating a whole history, a background for him in these episodes," said Coto. [4] After he learned that Brent Spiner was interested in a role on the series, Coto changed the story arc to accommodate Spiner. "For a little while," Coto explained, "I even toyed with the idea of him playing Colonel Green." Coto instead created the character of Arik Soong for Spiner to play. [5](X) Coto also considered Green being portrayed by Peter Weller, though he went on to instead appear as John Frederick Paxton in fourth season two-parter "Demons" and "Terra Prime". ("Terra Prime" audio commentary)
Green was featured in an ultimately undeveloped ENT story devised by Garfield and Judith Reeves-Stevens, also intended for the series' fourth season. In that narrative, Green was linked to an extremist political movement called the Optimum (which the Reeves-Stevenses took from their novel Federation). A heretofore secret connection between Green and Malcolm Reed's great-grandfather would have been established in the story. ("Observer Effect" audio commentary, ENT Season 4 Blu-ray special features) Also, Green's appearance in the undeveloped episode would have linked him to an emblem previously shown on a World War III uniform worn by Q in TNG: "Encounter at Farpoint", here used as Green's personal command emblem. A flag featuring the emblem was produced for "In a Mirror, Darkly", with the hope that it could be reused, but this never came to pass. [6]
The final draft script of "Demons" commented, "Greene is a classic firebrand, a boldly powerful speaker." By then saying, "The scene has a Triumph of the Will quality to it," the script indicated that Green was to seem like a Nazi leader.
As Green was to be represented only on a monitor in "Demons", the casting of the part for that reappearance took place after production on the episode wrapped. [7](X) The role had to be recast because Phillip Pine had died since appearing in "The Savage Curtain". To adopt the part, Steve Rankin underwent several physical changes. "They made me up, got my hair dark, gave me the pointy sideburns," he said. Like Pine before him, Rankin was also thrilled to portray Green, having been a Star Trek fan too. "That was a very, very cool thing to do," he enthused, adding, "but Col. Green was one of the worst men in the universe." [8]
Apocrypha[]
The FASA's RPG sourcebook The Federation gave his full name as "Edward Featherstone Green" and indicated he was born in Paris.
The Last Unicorn Games RPG guide All Our Yesterdays indicated that he unsuccessfully ran for President of the United States in 2052, a year before his historic genocides started.
External links[]
- Phillip Green at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works